He went on to appeal those decisions and while he was successful in challenging his conviction, he has lost his bid for permanent suppression.<\/p>\n
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black told NZME he understood his drink-driving \u201ccould have had serious consequences\u201d and was \u201cvery thankful that no such consequences eventuated\u201d.<\/p>\n
He also apologised to New Zealand Rugby for \u201cnot representing and living up to our standards and what we live by\u201d and said he was \u201ctruly grateful\u201d it had stayed by him through the process and for its \u201congoing support and guidance\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u2018A risk you chose to run\u2019<\/p>\n
McGarvey-Black told the court, in an affidavit last year, he was \u201cat a loss\u201d as to why he chose to drive that night and would normally have taken a taxi or Uber.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect, like many, it was simply a risk you chose to run,\u201d Judge Marinovich said.<\/p>\n
In declining to grant a discharge without conviction, the judge determined the offending was moderate and noted it wasn\u2019t the first time McGarvey-Black had been caught drink-driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat aggravates your offending is your prior conviction from [2017] for driving with excess breath alcohol, where you were fined and disqualified from driving,\u201d the judge said at sentencing.<\/p>\n
The judge also considered there was little to suggest the player had gone \u201cover and above\u201d in his expressions of remorse.<\/p>\n
The judge said the man could have, for example, spoken to a local high school about the consequences of drink-driving, or made a formal donation.<\/p>\n
After weighing the gravity and consequences of the offending, Judge Marinovich fined McGarvey-Black $1400 and disqualified him from driving for six months. He also denied permanent name suppression.<\/p>\n
However, McGarvey-Black appealed the conviction and the refusal to grant permanent name suppression.<\/p>\n
High Court considers the issue of travel with All Blacks Sevens<\/p>\n
In appealing his conviction, McGarvey-Black\u2019s lawyer, Tom Castle, provided the High Court with further information about his remorse. <\/p>\n
Justice Kiri Tahana ruled the expression of remorse went further than simply saying sorry.<\/p>\n
\u201c[McGarvey-Black] attended counselling and he continued to contribute to his community by assisting at the local primary school. Since sentencing, he has now also volunteered at a k\u014dhanga reo.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Justice Tahana said that in circumstances where McGarvey-Black has a previous conviction for driving with excess breath alcohol, she did not consider the judge erred in assessing the gravity of the offending as moderate, \u201ceven when remorse is considered\u201d.<\/p>\n
The other key aspect of the application for a discharge without conviction related to the consequences of a conviction, particularly with regard to McGarvey-Black\u2019s plans to travel with the All Blacks Sevens.<\/p>\n
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black, pictured at All Blacks Sevens training in 2018. Photo \/ John Borren <\/p>\n
Judge Marinovich had determined a further conviction might mean more effort was needed with applications to gain entry to certain countries, but it would not bar him entirely.<\/p>\n
He considered the consequences of a conviction to be \u201cmoderate\u201d and balancing that against the moderate seriousness of the offending, did not find the consequences were \u201cout of all proportion\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not the case that a person of good character with potential for national sporting selection does not have to adhere to the same legal obligations as his fellow citizens,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
However, regarding the issue of travel and its impact on McGarvey-Black\u2019s employment, Justice Tahana found the judge erred.<\/p>\n
She referred in particular to McGarvey-Black\u2019s entry into Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Mr McGarvey-Black had successfully travelled to Canada, he had done so when he only had one conviction,\u201d Justice Tahana said.<\/p>\n
There had been affidavit evidence provided from All Blacks Sevens manager David Ormrod that said, \u201ca second conviction for driving with excess breath alcohol would almost certainly result in an individual being deemed inadmissible, unless they can prove that they are rehabilitated\u201d.<\/p>\n
In his experience, \u201cproof of rehabilitation in this context is a high threshold and requires significant time to pass (often a period of years) since the offence in question, together with evidence of changed behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n
Justice Tahana found the sentencing judge did \u201cnot engage with this issue or explain how additional efforts would likely overcome the rehabilitation requirements\u201d. <\/p>\n
She considered the evidence established there was a real and appreciable risk he would be denied entry into Canada.<\/p>\n
The next issue was whether denial of entry into Canada would have consequences for McGarvey-Black\u2019s employment. <\/p>\n
Justice Tahana referred to McGarvey-Black\u2019s employment agreement, which said the commencement of the contract was conditional on him not \u201cbeing prevented from entering, or returning from, any country that you may be required to travel to as part of your duties as a professional rugby player\u201d.<\/p>\n
Given that, she found there was a \u201creal and appreciable risk that he will lose his employment if entry into Canada is denied\u201d.<\/p>\n
She considered his losing employment would be out of proportion to the gravity of his offending. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe consequences of losing his employment will impact his young family. That he is a professional Sevens player is irrelevant. That is simply the means by which Mr McGarvey-Black earns a living and supports his family.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the issue was whether losing employment was out of proportion to the gravity of his offending, and she considered that it was.<\/p>\n
He was granted a discharge without conviction, but the District Court orders for six months\u2019 disqualification and a $1400 fine remained in force.<\/p>\n
However, Justice Tahana did not consider the high threshold for permanent name suppression had been met.<\/p>\n
There was no evidence of extreme hardship, or an impact on his employment with New Zealand Rugby, nor was there evidence produced as to the hardship his family would suffer if his name was published \u201cbeyond the ordinary consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n
McGarvey-Black committed to becoming \u2018better version\u2019 of himself<\/p>\n
McGarvey-Black\u2019s statement said he was \u201cgrateful for the court\u2019s decision\u201d and wanted to \u201csincerely apologise\u201d for his actions. <\/p>\n
\u201cI take full responsibility for my actions and am committed to earning the trust of my peers and the community again and becoming a better version of myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He apologised to his wh\u0101nau, who had \u201cendured the stress, disappointment and hurt\u201d.<\/p>\n
He thanked those who had supported him and said he was \u201ccommitted to becoming a better person\u201d, and would focus on \u201ccontinuing to contribute to my sport, my wh\u0101nau, and my community to the best of my ability\u201d.<\/p>\n
Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He went on to appeal those decisions and while he was successful in challenging his conviction, he has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,1558,8136,9525,15970,43941,39687,2082,19724,5836,207279,13617,111,139,207278,69,62511,4481,9617,8466,86296,213,13618,2044,1339],"class_list":["post-401953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-been","tag-blacks","tag-caught","tag-conviction","tag-discharge","tag-drinkdriving","tag-for","tag-given","tag-lost","tag-mcgarveyblack","tag-name","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-ngarohi","tag-nz","tag-offence","tag-permanent","tag-player","tag-second","tag-sevens","tag-sports","tag-suppression","tag-time","tag-without"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}